Word: verneuil
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...number two does absolutely nothing to further the real plot of The Night Caller. It would still be useful if it gave us additional insights into the character of Le Tellier, but all it does is emphasize the already established fact that the cop is tough, singleminded and unorthodox. Verneuil pretends to offer psychological amplification, but draws back and gives the same superficial information about his hero. The director does not seem to know what makes Le Tellier tick, or at any rate, he is not sharing his information with...
...Verneuil is unable to decide what is important in the film, and he communicates his confusion. There are many tantalizing themes in the movie, but none are developed. The night caller, for example, is not just any homicidal maniac: he has class. He calls himself "Minos" after the character in The Divine Comedy who metes out punishments to sinners entering hell. He makes creepy nocturnal phone calls to his prospective victims, then goes to their apartments posing as a police investigator and strangles them. He teases the police by sending them a notice of each murder, with a picture...
Superb camera work is the film's redeeming feature, and is responsible for what little suspense Verneuil projects. A rooftop shoot-out in which Minos loses his glass eye is particularly effective. Belmondo does most of his own stunt work; seeing him in close-up action sequences contributes some sense of involvement with the hero...
Certain other technical aspects of the film are annoying and combine with Verneuil's confusion to undermine the impact of the camera-work. The score, whose recurring theme features a plodding bass line supposed to convey a sense of impending doom overlaid by a piercing electronic whistle intended to raise us to a pitch of terror, is grating rather than eerie. The actors' voices seem to be dubbed; even though they are mouthing English words, the soundtrack is not synchronized...
...director has no sense of priorities in his film, so we view each unrelated event with equal boredom; his distractions and digressions preclude any sense of urgency about the outcome of Le Tellier's search. Verneuil suffers from the same perceptual malady as the killer Minos; the suspense of his thriller disintegrates because he is only capable of focusing on one isolated idea at a time...